Beyond leading order QCD perturbative corrections to the pion form factor

The order α_s²(Q²) corrections to the pion form factor, F_π(Q²), are calculated using perturbative quantum chromodynamics and dimensional regularization. In the $\text{MS}$ renormalization scheme these corrections are large. This means that reliable perturbative predictions cannot be made until momentum transfers, Q, of about 300–400 GeV are reached or unless one can sum the large perturbative terms to all orders. Attempts to reorganize the perturbation series so that the first term gives a better approximation of the complete sum indicate that at Q = 10 GeV the pion form factor may be about a factor of two larger than the leading order result.